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LECTURE 1
LEXICOLOGY
The term «lexicology» is of Greek origin / from «lexis» - «word» and «logos» «science»/ . Lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary
and characteristic features of words and word-groups.
The term «vocabulary» is used to denote the system of words and word-groups
that the language possesses.
The term «word» denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the
association of a group of sounds with a meaning. This unit is used in grammatical
functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand
alone as a complete utterance.
The term «word-group» denotes a group of words which exists in the language
as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning, the unity of syntactical function,
e.g. the word-group «as loose as a goose» means «clumsy» and is used in a
sentence as a predicative / He is as loose as a goose/.
Lexicology can study the development of the vocabulary, the origin of words
and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form
and meaning. In this case it is called historical lexicology.
Another branch of lexicology is called descriptive and studies the vocabulary at
a definite stage of its development.
LANGUAGE UNITS
The main unit of the lexical system of a language resulting from the association
of a group of sounds with a meaning is a word. This unit is used in grammatical
functions characteristic of it. It is the smallest language unit which can stand alone
as a complete utterance.
A word, however, can be divided into smaller sense units - morphemes. The
morpheme is the smallest meaningful language unit. The morpheme consists of a
class of variants, allomorphs, which are either phonologically or morphologically
conditioned, e.g. please, pleasant, pleasure.
Morphemes are divided into two large groups: lexical morphemes and
grammatical (functional) morphemes. Both lexical and grammatical morphemes
can be free and bound. Free lexical morphemes are roots of words which express
the lexical meaning of the word, they coincide with the stem of simple words. Free
grammatical morphemes are function words: articles, conjunctions and
prepositions ( the, with, and).
Bound lexical morphemes are affixes: prefixes (dis-), suffixes (-ish) and also
blocked (unique) root morphemes (e.g. Fri-day, cran-berry). Bound grammatical
morphemes are inflexions (endings), e.g. -s for the Plural of nouns, -ed for the Past
Indefinite of regular verbs, -ing for the Present Participle, -er for the Comparative
degree of adjectives.
In the second half of the twentieth century the English wordbuilding system was
enriched by creating so called splinters which scientists include in the affixation
stock of the Modern English wordbuilding system. Splinters are the result of
clipping the end or the beginning of a word and producing a number of new words
on the analogy with the primary word-group. For example, there are many words
formed with the help of the splinter mini- (apocopy produced by clipping the word
«miniature»), such as «miniplane», «minijet», «minicycle», «minicar»,
«miniradio» and many others. All of these words denote obects of smaller than
normal dimensions.
On the analogy with «mini-» there appeared the splinter «maxi»- (apocopy
produced by clipping the word «maximum»), such words as «maxi-series», «maxisculpture», «maxi-taxi» and many others appeared in the language.
When European economic community was organized quite a number of
neologisms with the splinter Euro- (apocopy produced by clipping the word
«European») were coined, such as: «Euratom» «Eurocard», «Euromarket»,
«Europlug», «Eurotunnel» and many others. These splinters are treated sometimes
as prefixes in Modern English.
There are also splinters which are formed by means of apheresis, that is clipping
the beginning of a word. The origin of such splinters can be variable, e.g. the
splinter «burger» appeared in English as the result of clipping the German
borrowing «Hamburger» where the morphological structure was the stem
«Hamburg» and the suffix -er. However in English the beginning of the word
«Hamburger» was associated with the English word «ham», and the end of the
word «burger» got the meaning «a bun cut into two parts». On the analogy with the
word «hamburger» quite a number of new words were coined, such as:
«baconburger», «beefburger», «cheeseburger», «fishburger» etc.
The splinter «cade» developed by clipping the beginning of the word
«cavalcade» which is of Latin origin. In Latin the verb with the meaning «to ride a
horse» is «cabalicare» and by means of the inflexion -ata the corresponding
Participle is formed. So the element «cade» is a combination of the final letter of
the stem and the inflexion. The splinter «cade» serves to form nouns with the
meaning «connected with the procession of vehicles denoted by the first
component», e.g. «aircade» - «a group of airplanes accompanying the plane of a
VIP» , «autocade» - «a group of automobiles escorting the automobile of a VIP»,
«musicade» - «an orchestra participating in a procession».
In the seventieths of the twentieth century there was a political scandal in the
hotel «Watergate» where the Democratic Party of the USA had its pre-election
headquarters. Republicans managed to install bugs there and when they were
discovered there was a scandal and the ruling American government had to resign.
The name «Watergate» acquired the meaning «a political scandal», «corruption».
On the analogy with this word quite a number of other words were formed by
using the splinter «gate» (apheresis of the word «Watergate»), such as: «Irangate»,
»Westlandgate», »shuttlegate», »milliongate» etc. The splinter «gate» is added
mainly to Proper names: names of people with whom the scandal is connected or a
geographical name denoting the place where the scandal occurred.
The splinter «mobile» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word
«automobile» and is used to denote special types of automobiles, such as:
«artmobile», «bookmobile», «snowmobile», «tourmobile» etc.
The splinter «napper» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word
«kidnapper» and is used to denote different types of crimesters, such as :
«busnapper», «babynapper», «dognapper» etc. From such nouns the corresponding
verbs are formed by means of backformation, e.g. «to busnap», «to babynap», «to
dognap».
The splinter «omat» was formed by clipping the beginning of the word
«automat» (a cafe in which meals are provided in slot-machines). The meaning
«self-service» is used in such words as «laundromat», «cashomat» etc.
Another splinter «eteria» with the meaning «self-service» was formed by
clipping the beginning of the word «cafeteria». By means of the splinter «eteria»
the following words were formed: «groceteria», «booketeria», «booteteria» and
many others.
The splinter «quake» is used to form new words with the meaning of «shaking»,
«agitation». This splinter was formed by clipping the beginning of the word
«earthquake». Ther following words were formed with the help of this splinter:
«Marsquake», «Moonquake», «youthquake» etc.
The splinter «rama(ama)» is a clipping of the word «panorama» of Greek origin
where «pan» means «all» and «horama» means «view». In Modern English the
meaning «view» was lost and the splinter «rama» is used in advertisements to
denote objects of supreme quality, e.g. «autorama» means «exhibition-sale of
expensive cars», «trouserama» means «sale of trousers of supreme quality» etc.
The splinter «scape» is a clipping of the word «landscape» and it is used to form
words denoting different types of landscapes, such as: «moonscape»,
«streetscape», «townscape», «seascape» etc.
Another case of splinters is «tel» which is the result of clipping the beginning of
the word «hotel». It serves to form words denoting different types of hotels, such
as: «motel» (motor-car hotel), «boatel» (boat hotel), «floatel» (a hotel on water,
floating), «airtel» (airport hotel) etc.
The splinter «theque» is the result of clipping the beginning of the word
«apotheque» of Greek origin which means in Greek «a store house». In Russian
words: «библиотека»,
«картотека», «фильмотека» the element «тека»
corresponding to the English «theque» preserves the meaning of storing something
which is expressed by the first component of the word. In English the splinter
«theque» is used to denote a place for dancing, such as: «discotheque»,
«jazzotheque».
The splinter «thon» is the result of clipping the beginning of the word
«marathon». «Marathon» primarily was the name of a battle-field in Greece, forty
miles from Athens, where there was a battle between the Greek and the Persian.
When the Greek won a victory a Greek runner was sent to Athens to tell people
about the victory. Later on the word «Marathon» was used to denote long-distance
competitions in running. The splinter «thon(athon)» denotes «something
continuing for a long time», «competition in endurance» e.g. «dancathon»,
«telethon», «speakathon», «readathon», «walkathon», «moviethon», «swimathon»,
«talkathon», «swearthon» etc.
Splinters can be the result of clipping adjectives or substantivized adjectives.
The splinter «aholic» (holic) was formed by clipping the beginning of the word
«alcoholic» of Arabian origin where «al» denoted «the», «koh’l» - «powder for
staining lids». The splinter «(a)holic» means «infatuated by the object expressed
by the stem of the word» , e.g. «bookaholic», «computerholic», «coffeeholic»,
«cheesaholic», «workaholic» and many others.
The splinter «genic» formed by clipping the beginning of the word
«photogenic» denotes the notion «suitable for something denoted by the stem»,
e.g. «allergenic», «cardiogenic», «mediagenic», «telegenic» etc.
As far as verbs are concerned it is not typical of them to be clipped that is why
there is only one splinter to be used for forming new verbs in this way. It is the
splinter «cast» formed by clipping the beginning of the verb «broadcast». This
splinter was used to form the verbs «telecast» and «abroadcast».
Splinters can be called pseudomorphemes because they are neither roots nor
affixes, they are more or less artificial. In English there are words which consist of
two splinters, e.g. «telethon», therefore it is more logical to call words with
splinters in their structure «compound-shortened words consisting of two clippings
of words».
Splinters have only one function in English: they serve to change the lexical
meaning of the same part of speech, whereas prefixes and suffixes can also change
the part-of-speech meaning , e.g. the prefix «en-» and its allomorph «em» can form
verbs from noun and adjective stems («embody», «enable», «endanger»), «be-»
can form verbs from noun and adjective stems («becloud», «benumb»), «post-»
and «pre-» can form adjectives from noun stems («pre-election campaign», «postwar events»). The main function of suffixes is to form one part of speech from
another part of speech, e.g. «-er», «-ing», «-ment» form nouns from verbal stems
(«teacher», «dancing», «movement»), «-ness», «-ity» are used to form nouns from
adjective stems («clannishnes», «marginality»).
According to the nature and the number of morphemes constituting a word there
are different structural types of words in English: simple, derived, compound,
compound-derived.
Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (in many cases the
inflexion is zero), e.g. «seldom», «chairs», «longer», «asked».
Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an
inlexion, e.g. «deristricted», «unemployed».
Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion, e.g.
«baby-moons», «wait-and-see (policy)».
Compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more
affixes and an inflexion, e.g. «middle-of-the-roaders», «job-hopper».
When speaking about the structure of words stems also should be mentioned.
The stem is the part of the word which remains unchanged throughout the
paradigm of the word, e.g. the stem «hop» can be found in the words: «hop»,
«hops», «hopped», «hopping». The stem «hippie» can be found in the words:
«hippie», «hippies», «hippie’s», «hippies’». The stem «job-hop» can be found in
the words : «job-hop», «job-hops», «job-hopped», «job-hopping».
So stems, the same as words, can be simple, derived, compound and compoundderived. Stems have not only the lexical meaning but also grammatical (part-ofspeech) meaning, they can be noun stems («girl» in the adjective «girlish»),
adjective stems («girlish» in the noun «girlishness»), verb stems («expell» in the
noun «expellee») etc. They differ from words by the absence of inflexions in their
structure, they can be used only in the structure of words.
Sometimes it is rather difficult to distinguish between simple and derived words,
especially in the cases of phonetic borrowings from other languages and of native
words with blocked (unique) root morphemes, e.g. «perestroika», «cranberry»,
«absence» etc.
As far as words with splinters are concerned it is difficult to distinguish between
derived words and compound-shortened words. If a splinter is treated as an affix
(or a semi-affix) the word can be called derived , e.g.-, «telescreen», «maxi-taxi» ,
«shuttlegate», «cheeseburger». But if the splinter is treated as a lexical shortening
of one of the stems , the word can be called compound-shortened word formed
from a word combination where one of the components was shortened, e.g.
«busnapper» was formed from « bus kidnapper», «minijet» from «miniature jet».
In the English language of the second half of the twentieth century there
developed so called block compounds, that is compound words which have a
uniting stress but a split spelling, such as «chat show», «pinguin suit» etc. Such
compound words can be easily mixed up with word-groups of the type «stone
wall», so called nominative binomials. Such linguistic units serve to denote a
notion which is more specific than the notion expressed by the second component
and consists of two nouns, the first of which is an attribute to the second one. If we
compare a nominative binomial with a compound noun with the structure N+N we
shall see that a nominative binomial has no unity of stress. The change of the order
of its components will change its lexical meaning, e.g. «vid kid» is «a kid who is a
video fan» while «kid vid» means «a video-film for kids» or else «lamp oil» means
«oil for lamps» and «oil lamp» means «a lamp which uses oil for burning».
Among language units we can also point out word combinations of different
structural types of idiomatic and non-idiomatic character, such as «the first fiddle»,
«old salt» and «round table», «high road». There are also sentences which are
studied by grammarians.
Thus, we can draw the conclusion that in Modern English the following
language units can be mentioned: morphemes, splinters, words, nominative
binomials, non-idiomatic and idiomatic word-combinations, sentences.
LECTURE 2
WORDBUILDING
Word-building is one of the main ways of enriching vocabulary. There are four
main ways of word-building in modern English: affixation, composition,
conversion, abbreviation. There are also secondary ways of word-building: sound
interchange, stress interchange, sound imitation, blends, back formation.
AFFIXATION
Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the
history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of
speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation.
Suffixation.
The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech
from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same
part of speech. ( e.g. «educate» is a verb, «educatee» is a noun, and « music» is a
noun, «musicdom» is also a noun) .
There are different classifications of suffixes :
1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different parts of
speech are given here :
a) noun-forming suffixes, such as : -er (criticizer), -dom (officialdom), -ism
(ageism),
b) adjective-forming suffixes, such as : -able (breathable), less (symptomless), ous (prestigious),
c) verb-forming suffixes, such as -ize (computerize) , -ify (micrify),
d) adverb-forming suffixes , such as : -ly (singly), -ward (tableward),
e) numeral-forming suffixes, such as -teen (sixteen), -ty (seventy).
2. Semantic classification . Suffixes changing the lexical meaning of the stem
can be subdivided into groups, e.g. noun-forming suffixes can denote:
a) the agent of the action, e.g. -er (experimenter), -ist (taxist), -ent (student),
b) nationality, e.g. -ian (Russian), -ese (Japanese), -ish (English),
c) collectivity, e.g. -dom (moviedom), -ry (peasantry, -ship (readership), -ati (
literati),
d) diminutiveness, e.g. -ie (horsie), -let (booklet), -ling (gooseling), -ette
(kitchenette),
e) quality, e.g. -ness (copelessness), -ity (answerability).
3. Lexico-grammatical character of the stem. Suffixes which can be added to
certain groups of stems are subdivided into:
a) suffixes added to verbal stems, such as : -er (commuter), -ing (suffering), able (flyable), -ment (involvement), -ation (computerization),
b) suffixes added to noun stems, such as : -less (smogless), ful (roomful), -ism
(adventurism), -ster (pollster), -nik (filmnik), -ish (childish),
c) suffixes added to adjective stems, such as : -en (weaken), -ly (pinkly), -ish
(longish), -ness (clannishness).
4. Origin of suffixes. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) native (Germanic), such as -er,-ful, -less, -ly.
b) Romanic, such as : -tion, -ment, -able, -eer.
c) Greek, such as : -ist, -ism, -ize.
d) Russian, such as -nik.
5. Productivity. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) productive, such as : -er, -ize, --ly, -ness.
b) semi-productive, such as : -eer, -ette, -ward.
c) non-productive , such as : -ard (drunkard), -th (length).
Suffixes can be polysemantic, such as : -er can form nouns with the following
meanings : agent,doer of the action expressed by the stem (speaker), profession,
occupation (teacher), a device, a tool (transmitter). While speaking about suffixes
we should also mention compound suffixes which are added to the stem at the
same time, such as -ably, -ibly, (terribly, reasonably), -ation (adaptation from
adapt).
There are also disputable cases whether we have a suffix or a root morpheme in
the structure of a word, in such cases we call such morphemes semi-suffixes, and
words with such suffixes can be classified either as derived words or as compound
words, e.g. -gate (Irangate), -burger (cheeseburger), -aholic (workaholic) etc.
Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the stem. In
English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than
suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they
are used : prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words.
Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes,
e.g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes
because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead) ( cf over the
table ).
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the
same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five
prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another (bebutton,
interfamily, postcollege etc).
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles :
1. Semantic classification :
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals),
un- (unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re(revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter(interplanetary) , hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over(overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.
When we analyze such words as : adverb, accompany where we can find the
root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac- as prefixes though they
were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were borrowed from
Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can treat them as
derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple words. Another group of
words with a disputable structure are such as : contain, retain, detain and conceive,
receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-, con- act as prefixes and -tain, ceive can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations of sounds
have no lexical meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat
such words as simple words, others as derived ones.
There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some
scientists, e.g. after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on
Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British lexicographers
treat such words as derived ones.
COMPOSITION
Composition is the way of wordbuilding when a word is formed by joining two
or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound word depends
upon : a) the unity of stress, b) solid or hyphonated spelling, c) semantic unity, d)
unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. These are charachteristic
features of compound words in all languages. For English compounds some of
these factors are not very reliable. As a rule English compounds have one uniting
stress (usually on the first component), e.g. hard-cover, best-seller. We can also
have a double stress in an English compound, with the main stress on the first
component and with a secondary stress on the second component, e.g. bloodvessel. The third pattern of stresses is two level stresses, e.g. snow-white,sky-blue.
The third pattern is easily mixed up with word-groups unless they have solid or
hyphonated spelling.
Spelling in English compounds is not very reliable as well because they can
have different spelling even in the same text, e.g. war-ship, blood-vessel can be
spelt through a hyphen and also with a break, iinsofar, underfoot can be spelt
solidly and with a break. All the more so that there has appeared in Modern
English a special type of compound words which are called block compounds, they
have one uniting stress but are spelt with a break, e.g. air piracy, cargo module,
coin change, pinguin suit etc.
The semantic unity of a compound word is often very strong. In such cases we
have idiomatic compounds where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of
meanings of its components, e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain-drain etc. In
nonidiomatic compounds semantic unity is not strong, e. g., airbus, to
bloodtransfuse, astrodynamics etc.
English compounds have the unity of morphological and syntactical functioning.
They are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes
grammatically, e.g. These girls are chatter-boxes. «Chatter-boxes» is a predicative
in the sentence and only the second component changes grammatically.
There are two characteristic features of English compounds:
a) Both components in an English compound are free stems, that is they can be
used as words with a distinctive meaning of their own. The sound pattern will be
the same except for the stresses, e.g. «a green-house» and «a green house».
Whereas for example in Russian compounds the stems are bound morphemes, as a
rule.
b) English compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of compound
words which have form-word stems in their structure, e.g. middle-of-the-road, offthe-record, up-and-doing etc. The two-stem pattern distinguishes English
compounds from German ones.
WAYS OF FORMING COMPOUND WORDS.
Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of composition
but also by means of :
a) reduplication, e.g. too-too, and also by means of reduplicatin combined with
sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,
b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to micky-mouse, can-do, makeup etc,
c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to bloodtransfuse,
to fingerprint etc ,
d) analogy, e.g. lie-in ( on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone-in, brawndrain (on the analogy with brain-drain) etc.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF ENGLISH COMPOUNDS
1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:
a) nouns, such as : baby-moon, globe-trotter,
b) adjectives, such as : free-for-all, power-happy,
c) verbs, such as : to honey-moon, to baby-sit, to henpeck,
d) adverbs, such as: downdeep, headfirst,
e) prepositions, such as: into, within,
f) numerals, such as : fifty-five.
2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are divided
into:
a) neutral, which are formed by joining together two stems without any joining
morpheme, e.g. ball-point, to windowshop,
b) morphological where components are joined by a linking element : vowels
«o» or «i» or the consonant «s», e.g. {«astrospace», «handicraft», «sportsman»),
c) syntactical where the components are joined by means of form-word stems,
e.g. here-and-now, free-for-all., do-or-die .
3. According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:
a) compound words proper which consist of two stems, e.g. to job-hunt, trainsick, go-go, tip-top ,
b) derivational compounds, where besides the stems we have affixes, e.g. earminded, hydro-skimmer,
c) compound words consisting of three or more stems, e.g. cornflower-blue,
eggshell-thin, singer-songwriter,
d) compound-shortened words, e.g. boatel, tourmobile, VJ-day, motocross,
intervision, Eurodollar, Camford.
4. According to the relations between the components compound words are
subdivided into :
a) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic and
the structural centre and the second component is subordinate; these subordinative
relations can be different:
with comparative relations, e.g. honey-sweet, eggshell-thin, with limiting
relations, e.g. breast-high, knee-deep, with emphatic relations, e.g. dog-cheap, with
objective relations, e.g. gold-rich, with cause relations, e.g. love-sick, with space
relations, e.g. top-heavy, with time relations, e.g. spring-fresh, with subjective
relations, e.g. foot-sore etc
b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically
independent. Here belong such compounds when one person (object) has two
functions, e.g. secretary-stenographer, woman-doctor, Oxbridge etc. Such
compounds are called additive. This group includes also compounds formed by
means of reduplication, e.g. fifty-fifty, no-no, and also compounds formed with the
help of rhythmic stems (reduplication combined with sound interchange) e.g. crisscross, walkie-talkie.
5. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into
compounds with direct order, e.g. kill-joy, and compounds with indirect order, e.g.
nuclear-free, rope-ripe .
CONVERSION
Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building system. It is
also called affixless derivation or zero-suffixation. The term «conversion» first
appeared in the book by Henry Sweet «New English Grammar» in 1891.
Conversion is treated differently by different scientists, e.g. prof. A.I. Smirntitsky
treats conversion as a morphological way of forming words when one part of
speech is formed from another part of speech by changing its paradigm, e.g. to
form the verb «to dial» from the noun «dial» we change the paradigm of the noun
(a dial,dials) for the paradigm of a regular verb (I dial, he dials, dialed, dialing). A.
Marchand in his book «The Categories and Types of Present-day English» treats
conversion as a morphological-syntactical word-building because we have not only
the change of the paradigm, but also the change of the syntactic function, e.g. I
need some good paper for my room. (The noun «paper» is an object in the
sentence). I paper my room every year. (The verb «paper» is the predicate in the
sentence).
Conversion is the main way of forming verbs in Modern English. Verbs can be
formed from nouns of different semantic groups and have different meanings
because of that, e.g.
a) verbs have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting
parts of a human body e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder etc. They have
instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting tools, machines,
instruments, weapons, e.g. to hammer, to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail,
b) verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the
noun from which they have been converted, e.g. to crowd, to wolf, to ape,
c) verbs can denote acquisition, addition or deprivation if they are formed from
nouns denoting an object, e.g. to fish, to dust, to peel, to paper,
d) verbs can denote an action performed at the place denoted by the noun from
which they have been converted, e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to
pocket,
e) verbs can denote an action performed at the time denoted by the noun from
which they have been converted e.g. to winter, to week-end .
Verbs can be also converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the
change of the state, e.g. to tame (to become or make tame) , to clean, to slim etc.
Nouns can also be formed by means of conversion from verbs. Converted nouns
can denote:
a) instant of an action e.g. a jump, a move,
b) process or state e.g. sleep, walk,
c) agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been
converted, e.g. a help, a flirt, a scold ,
d) object or result of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has
been converted, e.g. a burn, a find, a purchase,
e) place of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been
converted, e.g. a drive, a stop, a walk.
Many nouns converted from verbs can be used only in the Singular form and
denote momentaneous actions. In such cases we have partial conversion. Such
deverbal nouns are often used with such verbs as : to have, to get, to take etc., e.g.
to have a try, to give a push, to take a swim .
LECTURE 4
CRITERIA OF SEMANTIC DERIVATION
In cases of conversion the problem of criteria of semantic derivation arises :
which of the converted pair is primary and which is converted from it. The
problem was first analized by prof. A.I. Smirnitsky. Later on P.A. Soboleva
developed his idea and worked out the following criteria:
1. If the lexical meaning of the root morpheme and the lexico-grammatical
meaning of the stem coincide the word is primary, e.g. in cases pen - to pen, father
- to father the nouns are names of an object and a living being. Therefore in the
nouns «pen» and «father» the lexical meaning of the root and the lexicogrammatical meaning of the stem coincide. The verbs «to pen» and « to father»
denote an action, a process therefore the lexico-grammatical meanings of the stems
do not coincide with the lexical meanings of the roots. The verbs have a complex
semantic structure and they were converted from nouns.
2. If we compare a converted pair with a synonymic word pair which was
formed by means of suffixation we can find out which of the pair is primary. This
criterion can be applied only to nouns converted from verbs, e.g. «chat» n. and
«chat» v. can be compared with «conversation» - «converse».
3. The criterion based on derivational relations is of more universal character. In
this case we must take a word-cluster of relative words to which the converted pair
belongs. If the root stem of the word-cluster has suffixes added to a noun stem the
noun is primary in the converted pair and vica versa, e.g. in the word-cluster : hand
n., hand v., handy, handful the derived words have suffixes added to a noun stem,
that is why the noun is primary and the verb is converted from it. In the wordcluster: dance n., dance v., dancer, dancing we see that the primary word is a verb
and the noun is converted from it.
SUBSTANTIVIZATION OF ADJECTIVES
Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga ) refer substantivization of adjectives to
conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of
substantivization of adjectives we have quite different changes in the language.
Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening ) when a word
combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its semantically weak noun
(man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is shortened to «a grown-up». In cases
of perfect substantivization the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable noun ,
e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal’s (mistake) , criminals’ (mistakes). Such
words are used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of
musicals. (musical comedies).
There are also two types of partly substantivized adjectives:
those which have only the plural form and have the meaning of collective nouns,
such as: sweets, news, empties, finals, greens,
those which have only the singular form and are used with the definite article.
They also have the meaning of collective nouns and denote a class, a nationality, a
group of people, e.g. the rich, the English, the dead .
«STONE WALL» COMBINATIONS.
The problem whether adjectives can be formed by means of conversion from
nouns is the subject of many discussions. In Modern English there are a lot of word
combinations of the type , e.g. price rise, wage freeze, steel helmet, sand castle etc.
If the first component of such units is an adjective converted from a noun,
combinations of this type are free word-groups typical of English (adjective +
noun). This point of view is proved by O. Yespersen by the following facts:
1. «Stone» denotes some quality of the noun «wall».
2. «Stone» stands before the word it modifies, as adjectives in the function of an
attribute do in English.
3. «Stone» is used in the Singular though its meaning in most cases is plural,and
adjectives in English have no plural form.
4. There are some cases when the first component is used in the Comparative or
the Superlative degree, e.g. the bottomest end of the scale.
5. The first component can have an adverb which characterizes it, and adjectives
are characterized by adverbs, e.g. a purely family gathering.
6. The first component can be used in the same syntactical function with a
proper adjective to characterize the same noun, e.g. lonely bare stone houses.
7. After the first component the pronoun «one» can be used instead of a noun,
e.g. I shall not put on a silk dress, I shall put on a cotton one.
However Henry Sweet and some other scientists say that these criteria are not
characterisitc of the majority of such units.
They consider the first component of such units to be a noun in the function of
an attribute because in Modern English almost all parts of speech and even wordgroups and sentences can be used in the function of an attribute, e.g. the then
president (an adverb), out-of-the-way vilages (a word-group), a devil-may-care
speed (a sentence).
There are different semantic relations between the components of «stone wall»
combinations. E.I. Chapnik classified them into the following groups:
1. time relations, e.g. evening paper,
2. space relations, e.g. top floor,
3. relations between the object and the material of which it is made, e.g. steel
helmet,
4. cause relations, e.g. war orphan,
5. relations between a part and the whole, e.g. a crew member,
6. relations between the object and an action, e.g. arms production,
7. relations between the agent and an action e.g. government threat, price rise,
8. relations between the object and its designation, e.g. reception hall,
9. the first component denotes the head, organizer of the characterized object,
e.g. Clinton government, Forsyte family,
10. the first component denotes the field of activity of the second component,
e.g. language teacher, psychiatry doctor,
11. comparative relations, e.g. moon face,
12. qualitative relations, e.g. winter apples.
ABBREVIATION
In the process of communication words and word-groups can be shortened. The
causes of shortening can be linguistic and extra-linguistic. By extra-linguistic
causes changes in the life of people are meant. In Modern English many new
abbreviations, acronyms , initials, blends are formed because the tempo of life is
increasing and it becomes necessary to give more and more information in the
shortest possible time.
There are also linguistic causes of abbreviating words and word-groups, such as
the demand of rhythm, which is satisfied in English by monosyllabic words. When
borrowings from other languages are assimilated in English they are shortened.
Here we have modification of form on the basis of analogy, e.g. the Latin
borrowing «fanaticus» is shortened to «fan» on the analogy with native words:
man, pan, tan etc.
There are two main types of shortenings : graphical and lexical.
Graphical abbreviations
Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening of words and word-groups
only in written speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They are
used for the economy of space and effort in writing.
The oldest group of graphical abbreviations in English is of Latin origin. In
Russian this type of abbreviation is not typical. In these abbreviations in the
spelling Latin words are shortened, while orally the corresponding English
equivalents are pronounced in the full form,e.g. for example (Latin exampli gratia),
a.m. - in the morning (ante meridiem), No - number (numero), p.a. - a year (per
annum), d - penny (dinarius), lb - pound (libra), i. e. - that is (id est) etc.
Some graphical abbreviations of Latin origin have different English equivalents
in different contexts, e.g. p.m. can be pronounced «in the afternoon» (post
meridiem) and «after death» (post mortem).
There are also graphical abbreviations of native origin, where in the spelling we
have abbreviations of words and word-groups of the corresponding English
equivalents in the full form. We have several semantic groups of them :
a) days of the week, e.g. Mon - Monday, Tue - Tuesday etc
b) names of months, e.g. Apr - April, Aug - August etc.
c) names of counties in UK, e.g. Yorks - Yorkshire, Berks -Berkshire etc
d) names of states in USA, e.g. Ala - Alabama, Alas - Alaska etc.
e) names of address, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. etc.
f) military ranks, e.g. capt. -captain, col. - colonel, sgt - sergeant etc.
g) scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. - Bachelor of Arts, D.M. - Doctor of Medicine . (
Sometimes in scientific degrees we have abbreviations of Latin origin, e.g., M.B. Medicinae Baccalaurus).
h) units of time, length, weight, e.g. f. / ft -foot/feet, sec. - second, in. -inch, mg.
- milligram etc.
The reading of some graphical abbreviations depends on the context, e.g. «m»
can be read as: male, married, masculine, metre, mile, million, minute, «l.p.» can
be read as long-playing, low pressure.
Initial abbreviations
Initialisms are the bordering case between graphical and lexical abbreviations.
When they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some new offices they are
closer to graphical abbreviations because orally full forms are used, e.g. J.V. - joint
venture. When they are used for some duration of time they acquire the shortened
form of pronouncing and become closer to lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC is as a
rule pronounced in the shortened form.
In some cases the translation of initialisms is next to impossible without using
special dictionaries. Initialisms are denoted in different ways. Very often they are
expressed in the way they are pronounced in the language of their origin, e.g.
ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) is given in Russian as АНЗУС,
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was for a long time used in Russian as
СОЛТ, now a translation variant is used (ОСВ -Договор об ограничении
стратегических вооружений). This type of initialisms borrowed into other
languages is preferable, e.g. UFO - НЛО, CП - JV etc.
There are three types of initialisms in English:
a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND etc
b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO
etc.
c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such
initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computor-based Laboratory for
Automated School System).
Some scientists unite groups b) and c) into one group which they call acronyms.
Some initialisms can form new words in which they act as root morphemes by
different ways of wordbuilding:
a) affixation, e.g. AWALism, ex-rafer, ex- POW, to waafize, AIDSophobia etc.
b) conversion, e.g. to raff, to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules),
c) composition, e.g. STOLport, USAFman etc.
d) there are also compound-shortened words where the first component is an
initial abbreviation with the alphabetical reading and the second one is a complete
word, e.g. A-bomb, U-pronunciation, V -day etc. In some cases the first
component is a complete word and the second component is an initial abbreviation
with the alphabetical pronunciation, e.g. Three -Ds (Three dimensions) стереофильм.
Abbreviations of words
Abbreviation of words consists in clipping a part of a word. As a result we get a
new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or the style is different form the
full form of the word. In such cases as »fantasy» and «fancy», «fence» and
«defence» we have different lexical meanings. In such cases as «laboratory» and
«lab», we have different styles.
Abbreviation does not change the part-of-speech meaning, as we have it in the
case of conversion or affixation, it produces words belonging to the same part of
speech as the primary word, e.g. prof is a noun and professor is also a noun.
Mostly nouns undergo abbreviation, but we can also meet abbreviation of verbs,
such as to rev from to revolve, to tab from to tabulate etc. But mostly abbreviated
forms of verbs are formed by means of conversion from abbreviated nouns, e.g. to
taxi, to vac etc. Adjectives can be abbreviated but they are mostly used in school
slang and are combined with suffixation, e.g. comfy, dilly, mizzy etc. As a rule
pronouns, numerals, interjections. conjunctions are not abbreviated. The
exceptions are: fif (fifteen), teen-ager, in one’s teens (apheresis from numerals
from 13 to 19).
Lexical abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word which is
clipped. Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the beginning of the word
in most cases is the root and expresses the lexical meaning of the word. This type
of abbreviation is called apocope. Here we can mention a group of words ending in
«o», such as disco (dicotheque), expo (exposition), intro (introduction) and many
others. On the analogy with these words there developed in Modern English a
number of words where «o» is added as a kind of a suffix to the shortened form of
the word, e.g. combo (combination) - небольшой эстрадный ансамбль, Afro
(African) -прическа под африканца etc. In other cases the beginning of the word
is clipped. In such cases we have apheresis , e.g. chute (parachute), varsity
(university), copter (helicopter) , thuse (enthuse) etc. Sometimes the middle of the
word is clipped, e.g. mart (market), fanzine (fan magazine) maths (mathematics).
Such abbreviations are called syncope. Sometimes we have a combination of
apocope with apheresis,when the beginning and the end of the word are clipped,
e.g. tec (detective), van (avanguard) etc.
Sometimes shortening influences the spelling of the word, e.g. «c» can be
substituted by «k» before «e» to preserve pronunciation, e.g. mike (microphone),
Coke (coca-cola) etc. The same rule is observed in the following cases: fax(
facsimile), teck (technical college), trank (tranquilizer) etc. The final consonants in
the shortened forms are substituded by letters characteristic of native English
words.
Lexicology as a Science.
The subject of lexicology.
Synchronic and diachronic approaches to language studies.
The connection of lexicology with other sciences.
Types of lexical units.
The Word as the Basic unit of Language.
The definition of the word. Phonetical, morphological and semantic motivation of
the word. Types of meaning of the word
Dennotational and connotational meaning. Lexical, differential, functional ,
distributional meanings of the word.
Word meaning
Definition of word meaning.
Referential and functional approach. Types of meaning. Grammatical, lexical and
part-of-speech meanings
Word meaning in morphemes:
Lexical, differential, functional, distributional meaning of the word.
Morphological Structure of English Words.
Definition of a morpheme.Derivational and functional affixes. Affixation.
Suffixation. Prefixation . Paradigmatical and syntagmatical relations in English.
Word – Composition. Conversion.
Homonyms. Synonyms. Antonyms
Minor Types of Word-Formation
Shortening and its causes. Blending. Abbreviations. Acronyms. Sound –interchange.
Sound- imitation. Backformation. Acronyms
Sound-interchange
Sound-imitation
Back-formation
Blending
Semantic Change.
Importance of semantic change. Causes of semantic change :
extralinguistic and linguistic. Classification of semantic change.
Interrelation of causes, nature and results of semantic change.
Word groups and Phraseological Units
Archaisms. Neologisms. Some basic features of word-groups. Classification
Set expressions, semi-fixed combinations and free phrases
Classification of phraseological units
Proverbs, sayings, familiar quotations and cliches
Borrowings. Etymological Doublets.
The origin of English words. Assimilation of borrowings. Etymological doublets.
International words. Classification of borrowings according to the degree of
assimilation.
Styles of speech.
Functional styles and neutral vocabulary. Official vocabulary. Poetic dictionary.
Colloquial words. Slang.
Variants and Dialects of English. Formal and informal speech. Dialect of English
American and British English
Canadian, Australian and Indian variants
Lexicography.
Definition of lexicography. Types of dictionaries Main problems of lexicography.
Development of British and American English
Seminar 3
Compound words.
Characteristic features of compound words in different languages.
Characteristic features of English compounds.
Classification of compound words according to their structure.
Classification of compound words according to the joining element.
Classification of compound words according to the parts of speech.
Classification of compound words according to the semantic relations between the
components.
Ways of forming compound words.
Analyze the following compound words:
note-book
speedometer
to job-hop
brain-gain
fair-haired
forget-me-not
teach-in
theatre-goer
back-grounder
well-dressed
son-in-law
video-corder
Anglo-Russian
biblio-klept
bio-engineer
to book-hunt
mini-term
blood-thirsty
good-for-nothing
do-gooder
skin-head
sportsman
para-trooper
bus-napper
cease-fire
tip-top
brain-drain
to baby-sit
throw-away
kleptomania
airbus
three-cornered
bread-and-butter
Compare the strucure of the following words:
demagougery
tablewards
heliport
tobbacoless
money-wise
non-formal
booketeria
go-go
counter-clockwise
giver-away
motel
to frontpage
newly-created
productivity
nobody
Seminar 4.
Conversion.
Conversion as a way of wordbuilding.
Different points of view on the nature of conversion.
Semantic groups of verbs which can be converted from nouns.
The meanings of verbs converted from adjectives.
Semantic groups of nouns which can be converted from verbs.
Substantivised adjectives.
Characteristic features of combinations of the type «stone wall».
Semantic groups of combinations of this type.
Analyze the following lexical units:
to eye
a grown-up
London season
a flirt
to weekend
a find
to slim
to airmail
steel helmet
resit
a read
sleep
handout
a build-up
supersonics
a non-formal
to wireless
to blue-pencil
to blind - the blind - blinds
distrust
news
to co-author
a jerk
have-nots
to submarine
to radio
the English
to water
to winter
a sit-down
mother-in-law
undesirables
a walk
dislike
log cabin
morning star
a find
finals
Seminar 5.
Shortenings and abbreviations.
Lexical and graphical abbreviations,the main differences between them.
Types of graphical abbreviations.
Types of initias, peculiarities of their pronunciation.
Lexical shortenings of words, their reference to styles.
Compound-shortened words, their structural types.
Analyze the following lexical units:
aggro /aggression/
Algol / algorythmic language/
apex /eipeks/ - advanced purchased excursion/ payment for an excursion ninety days before
the time of excursion/
A-day /announcement Day - day of announcing war/
AID / artifitial insemination by a donor/
AIDS / acquired immunity deficiency syndrome/
Ala / Alabama/
a.s.a.p. /as soon as possible/
bar-B-Q ,barb /barbecue/
to baby-sit / baby-sitter/
A-level /advanced level/ BC /birth certificate/
burger /hamberger/
Camford, Oxbridge
CALL /computer-assisted language learning/
CAT /computer-assisted training/
cauli / cauliflower/ COD / cash on delivery/
COBOL / k ubol/ /common business-oriented language/
co- ed
comp /komp, k mp/ /accompaniment/
DINKY /double income ,no kids yet/
E-Day /entrance day //Common Market/ expo/exposition/
edbiz/ educational business/ el-hi / elementary and high
schools/, ex lib/ex libris/ /from the library of/
etc
Euratom fax /facsimile/
G-7 / group of seven: GB, Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy, Spain/.
/formula translation/.
FORTRAN